Chapter 741: Chapter 302: The Boldness of a Newborn Calf and the Importance of Reputation for Doctors
Zhou Can and Director Zhang were very pleased to hear that this family member finally came to terms and allowed his wife to undergo radiation therapy.
Many common people are as afraid of the words "radiation therapy" as a tiger, it sounds like a death warrant to them.
Little do they know, radiation therapy remains one of the most effective means of fighting cancer to date.
It has to be said that chemotherapy, which uses chemical drugs to kill cancer cells at the expense of also damaging normal cells, has the strongest side effects. It’s a typical case of killing 800 enemies but self-injuring a thousand.
"After receiving radiation therapy, this patient went from urinating up to a hundred times a day to over thirty times. Her water intake also reduced from 17000ml to about 7000ml."
The attending doctor reported the patient’s condition to Director Zhang at the side.
It seems that Zhou Can’s diagnosis was correct; the real cause of this female patient’s illness is hypothalamic-pituitary disease.
Just one session of radiation therapy showed a very significant result, which is very good.
If radiation therapy continues a few more times and completes a full course, it should achieve satisfactory efficacy.
Director Zhang, after hearing the report from the attending doctor, nodded in satisfaction.
She personally checked the patient’s recent nursing records, including vital signs, frequency and intervals of urination, etc. Zhou Can stood by, quietly learning from her thoroughness.
Rounding shouldn’t just be a procedure, it should be thorough like Director Zhang’s approach.
"I see there’s significant improvement in all aspects, continue to persist in two aspects of treatment: one is controlling blood sugar, the other is radiation therapy," Director Zhang gave the guidance.
They continued to check other beds.
Coming to the little boy who had been eating live fish, Zhou Can was full of hope.
The boy had been given no water, supplemental fluids, gastrointestinal decompression, and other treatments.
"Dr. Zhou, Director Zhang!"
The family, upon seeing Zhou Can and Director Zhang, greeted them enthusiastically.
At this moment, only the boy’s father was accompanying by the bedside.
Seeing them drag their family to the hospital for consultation yesterday, it’s very likely that they’ve purchased property in the provincial city. Or, they have relatives in the provincial city, where they could stay.
"How is the child today?"
"There’s been improvement. Both vomiting and diarrhea have significantly reduced."
The boy’s father, seeing some effects from the treatment, felt quite satisfied.
Ordinary people, not understanding medical professional knowledge, think that if they see symptoms reduce, there’s hope for cure. Little do they know, these are just trial methods by the doctor and cannot be implemented long-term.
Like when a car is out of gas, using the reserve tank lets the car drive, but if the main tank’s issue isn’t resolved, the problem still exists.
For a disease to be cured, it’s necessary to find the real cause.
In fact, many hospital treatment plans are now starting to be vague. Sometimes, if a cause can’t be identified, doctors might just skip it entirely. Instead, they treat the symptoms, control the patient’s condition, and improve symptoms, allowing patients to live with the disease long-term.
This sort of lazy diagnostic thinking has nearly become the mainstream in medical practice in clinical settings.
As the saying goes, it’s better to live poorly than to die well.
By using medications or other treatment methods to reduce the sufferers’ pain and extend their lives, is also not an unsatisfactory compromise.
At least doctors from top to bottom accept this model.
Saving lives first, then treating the disease, is the first principle Zhou Can learned after engaging in clinical studies.
"The temperature also came down a bit, the highest was 7.1 degrees."
Zhou Can flipped through the hospital records; compared to yesterday’s temperature of 38 degrees, there’s been an obvious drop.
Just then, there was the sound of a plastic bag being torn from the nearby bed.
The child’s gaze turned to the adjacent bed.
A family member was feeding the patient biscuits.
This little boy had not had water for over twelve hours and must be very hungry. Seeing others eat, well, it’s natural for children to show longing expressions.
He quietly swallowed saliva.
"Cough cough..."
It appeared he choked on his saliva, suddenly starting to cough violently. The boy’s father quickly patted his son’s back gently.
Under normal circumstances, only drinking water could lead to choking.
Getting choked swallowing saliva seldom happens.
It does not dismiss the possibility of a rare accident happening.
After the child stopped coughing, his face had turned red from the severe choking.
Normally, this wouldn’t have caught Zhou Can’s attention.
But moments later, the little boy started coughing violently again.
This time, Zhou Can took it more seriously.
After the boy stopped coughing, Zhou Can asked the family, "Has your son always been easily choked like this?"
"No, it just started this morning; I even reminded him to be careful when swallowing saliva," the boy’s father said helplessly and puzzled.
How could he suddenly start getting easily choked by saliva?
Director Zhang obviously noticed this issue and was also deep in thought.
"Could his choking be related to gastrointestinal decompression?" Yang Chan bluntly asked.
"It’s possible."
Zhang Bihua nodded slightly.
"The patient’s gastrointestinal, urinary systems, heart, lungs, and other areas are involved, not many diseases could cause so many systems to suffer. After excluding malignant tumors, the remaining possible diseases seem limited. ANA tested negative, which almost rules out lupus."
Director Zhang’s diagnosis was the same as Zhou Can’s; they both found themselves in a quandary.
Zhou Can, however, after watching the child for a while, boldly speculated, "What if his Systemic lupus erythematosus is latent? If we don’t consider ANA negative as a definitive standard, his disease progression and all symptoms highly correspond with Systemic lupus erythematosus."